


compromise could be a ship or life jacket (but it sure isn't the great, wide sea)

by beepbedeep



Category: Atypical (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, NO ONE TOLD ME, They are so cute, WOW WHAT, an inner monologue no one asked for!, girls are great, so good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 04:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21350068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beepbedeep/pseuds/beepbedeep
Summary: There’s a cost to everything. Want to have a good day tomorrow? Go to sleep now. Love your brother? No eating at your childhood-favorite-potato-restaurant. New school? Lose all your old friends. Defend your dad? Lose your mom. Casey’s used to hard calls and weird situations and two people wriggling around, creating something that works for both of them. That’s just loving someone. Except, of course, with Izzie.
Relationships: Casey Gardner/Izzie
Comments: 5
Kudos: 116





	compromise could be a ship or life jacket (but it sure isn't the great, wide sea)

Love is compromise, if there’s one thing that past year has taught Casey it’s that. Honestly, if there’s something the past 16 years have taught Casey it’s that.   
And it’s fine, it really is, because when someone makes you really happy, or takes care of you, it’s important to do the same thing back – anything else just isn’t fair. Sam needs different things than she does, and that makes sense. Sometimes she needs to protect him, and sometimes she needs to tease him, and he’s usually the most frustrating person on the planet but you have to be patient with family. (at least that’s what her mom says. but her mom is kinda the worst person on the planet so who knows how seriously Casey needs to take that anymore.) Speaking of compromise, her dad and Elsa could be a medial study on the effects of compromise in a relationship – when it works and when you ignore the person you’re supposed to love and bring the walls surrounding a relatively happy family crashing down. 

But anyway.

So, Casey’s an expert. She gets it, she knows that being around anyone for a longish period of time means you gotta figure things out, squishing yourselves into just the right shape, so that sliding together works more easily. Beth needs to be texted at least once a day, Sharice requires weekly movie nights. And Evan, who’s pretty easy to compromise for, in the whole scheme of things. They want the same stuff (most of the time) so it works out. Really.

So. You know. There’s a cost to everything. Want to have a good day tomorrow? Go to sleep now. Love your brother? No eating at your childhood-favorite-potato-restaurant. New school? Lose all your old friends. Defend your dad? Lose your mom. Casey’s used to hard calls and weird situations and two people wriggling around, creating something that works for both of them. That’s just loving someone. Except, of course, with Izzie. (Everything clicks with Izzie, no adjustments needed. Casey’s still trying to understand why.) Even Evan requires his fair share of compromise, and figuring things out and, even after all of that, things are GOOD with them, really good, but sometimes Casey is struck by a feeling that she’s just a few degrees off. And it doesn’t seem like all the communication in the world could fix that. So Evan is good. Evan is SO good, good enough, a million times better than good enough, and it WORKS. 

It could work infinitely, Casey thinks, except for the Izzie of it all. Because Izzie is different. It’s not like things are _easy for them_, easy is SO not the word. They push and pull too, poking each other just to get a reaction, drifting too close and snapping apart again. It’s confusing and it sucks and it’s still a lot of work . . . but the end product feels so _different_ than anything Casey’s felt with Evan, or anyone else. There’s things they don’t say, things they don’t need to say. Izzie pushes Casey to be better, except it’s not pushing, there’s no crushing weight of anyone’s expectations, just the two of them running as fast as the possibly can. Together. (Nothing has ever felt like that with Evan, as much as Casey doesn’t want to admit it.)

Besides, there’s something about Izzie’s eyes when she smiles, the way she trusts Casey and cries out for help (but only after everything already went to shit a week before) and curls on her side when she sleeps. Compromise doesn’t feel like loss when it’s for Izzie – it’s just getting even closer to the greatest person Casey’s ever known. (And it’s not the boy/girl thing that makes Evan and Izzie so different. Bisexuality is valid! It’s just. One of them is Izzie. One isn’t. That’s all the math Casey needs to do.)

Most people would guess that Casey’s good at compromise because of all the running. They’re wrong. Compromise is for everything other than that. _Running is just for her_, because Casey LOVES it. The burn, the exhilaration, pushing past every limit, nothing else matters when she’s not standing still. So training isn’t an issue – even when she has to get up at 5am, when her legs could fall off or her appendectomy scar stings, or she can’t see Evan that night, because of extra practice, none of it is a sacrifice. Casey just loves it. Even when it sucks, that fact doesn’t change. She’d do anything to keep running, plain and simple. And Izzie feels like running.


End file.
